6. What comedian, known for his work on Laugh-In and with Robert Altman, adopted his stage name as a homophonic tribute to a favorite European playwright?
James Bateman adopted the name "Henry Gibson" in honor of Henrik Ibsen. No kidding.

Yep! I was right.

I knew this one from watching old Laugh-In reruns. I always thought he was kinda cute.

Ack! I keep wavering between Neptune and Uranus because I can't remember which is farther away. I'm going to settle on the latter.

Do you know what the first letter of the farther three (current) planets in the Solar System spell out in order?SUN: Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. So there's a Sun at the center, and a SUN at the outer edge of the Solar System. That's the way that I remember.

1. In what 2009 novel, a bestseller for Penguin, do three Mississippi women write a book of essentially the same title for Harper & Row?
The book-within-a-book in The Help is just called Help. The title is a lot better in our universe with the definite pronoun, I think.

2. Who is the only A-list hip-hop star to host his official website using an Armenia country code top-level domain?
Armenian web addresses end in ".am," and will.i.am is easily the biggest star who can take advantage of this.

3. About 90 percent of the world's licorice is used not for candy but in what (non-edible) consumer product?
Most licorice goes not into candy and cough drops, but as a flavor additive in cigarettes.

4. What's the only planet of the Solar System that can't be seen with the naked eye?
Uranus is hard to see with the naked eye, but Neptune seems to be (just barely) impossible. Even with the darkest possible skies, the naked-eye astronomers with the best vision have so far fallen short.

5. In what country did a 53-year civil war with FARC rebels lead to a 2016 ceasefire accord?
The C in "FARC" stands for Colombia. President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his work to end the conflict.

6. In what exercise program, founded in 2000 by Greg Glassman, would you attempt WODs (Workouts of the Day) like the "Filthy 50" and "King Kong"?
This is CrossFit, as you would know if you knew anyone who did CrossFit, because they'd be telling you about it all the damn time.

7. What unusual distinction is shared by these mammals, listed in this order? Elephants, whales, dolphins, rhinos, walruses, camels, giraffes, tapirs, manatees, zebras, donkeys.
These are the mammals whose gestation periods before giving birth are over a year, listed in descending order of their longest-pregnant species. These numbers are hard to pin down due to natural variation and because it's a hard thing to pin down in the wild, but I think this order is a pretty solid attempt at the consensus. What unfortunate mothers did I miss?

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS

1. The Houston Comets won the first four championships--a feat never since equaled--in the history of what sports organization?

2. What's the common name for Na2B4O7·10H2O, a crystalline salt sometimes associated with mules?

3. What two modern nations, separated by Cote d'Ivoire, may both take their names from the same West African medieval trading city?

4. What tempo marking is famously used for the second movement of Samuel Barber's String Quarter in B Minor?

5. Give the more famous epithet for His Holiness Pius XIII.

6. Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno were the four men who went on trial in 1992 for an incident involving what man?

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these songs? "The Ballad of the Green Berets," "The Bare Necessities," "Big Ole Brew," "Blow the Man Down, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," "The Internationale," "More Than This," "Shelter from the Storm," "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding."

1. The Houston Comets won the first four championships--a feat never since equaled--in the history of what sports organization?

2. What's the common name for Na2B4O7·10H2O, a crystalline salt sometimes associated with mules?

3. What two modern nations, separated by Cote d'Ivoire, may both take their names from the same West African medieval trading city?

4. What tempo marking is famously used for the second movement of Samuel Barber's String Quarter in B Minor?

5. Give the more famous epithet for His Holiness Pius XIII.

6. Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno were the four men who went on trial in 1992 for an incident involving what man?

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these songs? "The Ballad of the Green Berets," "The Bare Necessities," "Big Ole Brew," "Blow the Man Down, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," "The Internationale," "More Than This," "Shelter from the Storm," "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding."

1. WNBA
2. Borax
3. Hmmm... Lots of Guinea-containing nation names in Africa. Guinea and Guinea-Bissau?
4. No clue
5. No idea
6. Rodney King
7. They were all B-Sides? That isn't very unusual....

2. What's the common name for Na2B4O7·10H2O, a crystalline salt sometimes associated with mules? Borax

3. What two modern nations, separated by Cote d'Ivoire, may both take their names from the same West African medieval trading city? WAG: Guinea/Ghana?

4. What tempo marking is famously used for the second movement of Samuel Barber's String Quarter in B Minor? Adagio also adapted for voices as an amazing setting of Agnus Dei

5. Give the more famous epithet for His Holiness Pius XIII. Would that be Antipope?

7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these songs? "The Ballad of the Green Berets," "The Bare Necessities," "Big Ole Brew," "Blow the Man Down, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," "The Internationale," "More Than This," "Shelter from the Storm," "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding." The only thing that springs to mind is that the lyrics are written from a 2nd person perspective, but I don't think that's particularly unusual.

The only thing that springs to mind is that the lyrics are written from a 2nd person perspective, but I don't think that's particularly unusual.

I don't think "Do Wah Diddy" is - "She looked good, she looked fine, and I knew that she was mine"... a description of a third person by somebody speaking in the first person.

I can think of far more obvious second-person songs such as "She Loves You (Yeah Yeah Yeah)", which definitely was considered unusual at the time for being written in the second person because it was mentioned in an English class at school. Or "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"... or lots of others, some of which probably wouldn't be by The Beatles, that I'd think of if I spent a bit more time on it.

For 5 - nice answer, but there were a whole lot of those, when the papacy split into two with one Pope in Rome and another in France (Amiens? I know the city began with A...). The two sides disagreed about which was the real one and which was the Antipope. So I don't think it's right. I was wondering about Pope Joan but that's not right either!

1. The Houston Comets won the first four championships--a feat never since equaled--in the history of what sports organization?

Well, never since implies that this is an ongoing organization, and that it's possible to do better. I'm going to say the WNBA.

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2. What's the common name for Na2B4O7·10H2O, a crystalline salt sometimes associated with mules?

Hmmm. Gotta be 20-mule team Borax(o). I'm old enough to remember those commercials.

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3. What two modern nations, separated by Cote d'Ivoire, may both take their names from the same West African medieval trading city?

I feel as if I should know this. Sadly, I don't know enough African nations to answer, but I'll say Zamibia and Zimbabwe, just for the heck of it. ETA: I think musicgeek's got this one.

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4. What tempo marking is famously used for the second movement of Samuel Barber's String Quarter in B Minor?

Not famous enough, as far as I'm concerned. Let's say 128/64.

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5. Give the more famous epithet for His Holiness Pius XIII.

Was he the last anti-pope? ETA: Richard, the city you're groping for is Avignon.

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6. Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno were the four men who went on trial in 1992 for an incident involving what man?

Dan Rather. What's the frequency, Kenneth?

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7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these songs? "The Ballad of the Green Berets," "The Bare Necessities," "Big Ole Brew," "Blow the Man Down, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," "The Internationale," "More Than This," "Shelter from the Storm," "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding."

You mean, other than the fact that for once, I've heard of all of them? Well, it can't be that they were hits for people not known as singers, or that they were the theme songs for movies that took their titles from the songs, or that they involve whistling. I guess I'll admit I don't know.

With regard to question 5, I know there were several historically. If memory serves, this particular individual is/was (not sure) held up as a "true" pope by ultra-conservative Catholics after they rejected the reforms of Vatican II. I'm not aware of what particular special designation he may be known by.

For question 7, I'm pretty sure I accidentally stumbled across the answer while searching for lyrics. I'll recuse myself, but if anyone wants a small hint it has to do with later cover performances.